INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS – "Reform begins from the grounds up."

victims climbs to 14 in PGCPS child-porn case, police say

A child pornography investigation involving a Prince George’s County school volunteer broadened again on Friday as county police identified two more victims, bringing the total to 14, and an additional location where they say children were abused.

Police said Deonte Carraway, 22, of Glenarden, Md., victimized children at a church. Police declined to name the church at a Friday afternoon news conference, because the pastor had not yet been informed.

“If we have confirmed that there are are additional locations we’ll share that with the community in order to make sure that anyone who may be a victim will come forward,” said Prince George’s County police spokesman Julie Parker.“Perhaps the name of a location will spark someone’s memory.”

Carraway was arrested last week and charged with 10 counts of child pornography in connection with dozens of videos showing children performing sex acts.

Police had previously said that the videos were created at Judge Sylvania W. Woods Elementary School, where Carraway was a volunteer, at the Glenarden Municipal Center, at the Theresa Banks Memorial Aquatic Center and in private homes.

Carraway has admitted creating the videos, according to police. In some of them, he can be seen or heard directing the children to perform certain acts, according to police. And in at least one case, a student is recorded performing a sex act on Carraway in a school bathroom while Carraway recorded it on his orange phone, according to charging documents.

Fox 5 on Thursday reported that in a jailhouse interview, Carraway told the station’s reporter that he had shot videos of children but that he had no sexual interaction with the children.

The allegations have shocked and sickened the community of Glenarden and beyond and have prompted two civil lawsuits against the county school board, one of them a class-action suit filed on behalf of all current and former students allegedly abused by Carraway at school.

Prince George’s County Schools spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson said that schools officials have not been served with the complaints.

Sylvania Woods parents had sharp questions for officials at a meeting Thursday night, asking how Carraway had been hired and how he had been allowed to be alone with children long enough to produce videos on school grounds and during school hours.

Parents also wanted to know how it was possible that the school principal, Michelle Williams, had not been aware of what was going on. And they asked whether Williams had been informed of Carraway’s suspicious behavior previously and had failed to report it as the law requires.

Schools chief executive Kevin Maxwell said in response to parents at the Thursday session that he had many of the same questions they did but didn’t have any answers yet, because investigators’ work is still underway.

Maxwell said officials have been “hearing that people did not properly report things,” and he vowed to “retrain every employee in the school system.” He told parents that any employees found not to have fulfilled their responsibilities will be dealt with accordingly, but he said he could not answer whether Williams will be retained.

Williams has been placed on paid administrative leave.

She has not responded to requests for comment, but a representative for the principal’s union has said that Williams reported concerns about Carraway’s behavior to police and Child Protective Services as soon as she became aware of them.

Donna St. George contributed to this report. Investigators ask anyone with information about this case to call 800-CALL-FBI or 301-772-4930.